The Robinson family (Sesame Street)

As per suggested by Harvard psychologist Jerome Kagan, Cooney advised in The Potential Uses that a series should feature a male lead, to "provide continuity from one segment to another, establish the tone, and function, subtly, as the master teacher."

"[3] His report suggested that, after the slavery-era of US history, the rise of out-of-wedlock births, absent fathers, and female-headed families only perpetuated cyclical poverty.

[4] In his memoirs, Roscoe Orman who portrays Gordon Robinson commented that "what the character most significantly symbolizes, his most distinguishing and praiseworthy attribute, may lie in the simple fact that he is a man of African descent who for over three decades has been a respected and beloved father figure to young people of all races and all social classes all across America and beyond."

"[5] Orman went on to describe his on-screen wife, Susan, as an "exemplary model of African-American womanhood" and the couple's on-going relationship "in sharp contrast to the prevailing images of black men that have been projected within mainstream American culture since and especially prior to Sesame Street’s premiere and certainly during the formative years of my own generation.

Historian Robert W. Morrow defends her creators, stating that their goal was presenting Gordon as a strong black male capable of supporting his family.

Sesame Street's producers responded to this criticism by making Susan a nurse during the show's second season, and by introducing Gordon's sister, Olivia, in 1976.

In a series of test pilots, Garrett Saunders played Gordon; records of his appearance were lost by producers, and his identity was unknown until his family identified him in 2011.

[8] Matt Robinson had joined Children's Television Workshop to assist in the development of Sesame Street, producing and overseeing filmed segments focusing on the diversity of different characters on the show.

While the skits with the character musically provided reading and writing concepts, critics found his jive-talking to be a cultural stereotype, and the producers of the series removed him.

[7] Roscoe Orman provided the voice of one of Roosevelt's classmates, Hardhat Henry Harris, before joining the series as the third actor to play Gordon.

Roscoe Orman has garnered more screen time since season 35, playing Trash Gordon, the hero of a series of bedtime stories Oscar the Grouch reads to Slimey the Worm at the end of each episode.

He escapes peril in each chapter, thanks to his quick thinking; when a living pile of rotten bananas confronts him, for example, it is soon chased away by an "Intergalactical Monkey" he happened to have with him.

"[5] However, Orman doesn't credit Sesame Street as having defined himself personally and his overall career; The Free Southern Theater of New Orleans and The New Lafayette Theatre of Harlem collectively take that honor.

In episode 4112 (2006), Miles graduated from high school alongside Gabi, despite the fact that the characters' respective births on the show occurred four years apart.

However, Jim Henson (Kermit and Ernie) died, with Steve Whitmire playing Ernie from 1993 to 2014, followed by Billy Barkhurst from 2014 to 2017, and then Peter Linz since 2017 (Kermit no longer appears); Frank Oz, busy as a director, puppeteered Grover, Bert, and Cookie Monster occasionally until 2012 (Eric Jacobson and David Rudman have largely taken over his respective characters); and Caroll Spinney retired in 2018 and died in 2019, thus handing over the role of Big Bird to Matt Vogel, and Oscar the Grouch to Jacobson.

On July 28, 2016, it was announced that Gordon (along with Bob and Luis) would be dropped from the show as Orman, McGrath, and Delgado's contracts were not renewed as part of Sesame Workshop's re-tooling for the series.

However, some of the former cast members also appeared in Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration, online videos, and town halls the show had produced in the years in between then.

Writers introduced the character of Gordon's sister, Olivia, played by actress Alaina Reed Hall, in 1976 to show a relationship between adult siblings.

Olivia was a photographer and last appeared on the show in 1988 (so Reed could work on the TV sitcom 227), although the television special The Street We Live On included archive footage of her.

In one episode, c. 1975, Susan leaves the Street for a day to visit her mother, who has taken ill, in Merton, which according to Gordon, is a few hours away by plane and a short train ride after landing.

Susan's parents, Lee (Bill Cobbs) and Dorothy (Frances Foster), were seen in episode 2125 (season 17), in which they visited her and Gordon after they adopted Miles.

In episode 3578 (season 28), Gordon's parents, Bill (Helmar Augustus Cooper) and Sarah (Theresa Merritt), had come over for their 45th wedding anniversary party.

Other relatives of Gordon's invited to the party include his brother Aaron (also played by Kevin Clash), his wife Pearl (Pamela Isaacs), and his two children, Wayne (Devon Mack) and Alanna (Ife Tiye Collymore), Cousin Leon (Akwesi Asante), and his three daughters, Alison (Nicole A. Davis), Carla (Carla A. Davis) and Baby Selina (Alljahni Mack).

In the summer of 2005, Orman appeared as Gordon with Kevin Clash puppeteering Elmo at series sponsor Beaches Family Resorts in Jamaica.